Supersonic Volcanic Eruptions? The Mule Ear Diatreme of Southeastern Utah

[@shawnwillsey]

Be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can support my educational videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8 or here: buymeacoffee.com/shawnwillsey

[@non-influential]

I've seen the Hopi Buttes flying into Las Vegas! They looked volcanic from the air just based on their unusually dark color, but I wasn't sure since they seemed pretty uniformly flat across the top. Thanks for mentioning these!

[@Sonex1542]

Shawn, thank you so much for all these various geological stories. It's amazing how many different processes took place in the earths' creation and to have someone like you describe them... It's really a privilege to have you. Please keep up the wonderful videos you make.

[@sterlingeventide8859]

@shawnwillsey Thank you, Sean, for coming to Utah and doing vids on our wonderful geology. You are the only geologist in any number of years that actually talks about Utah and her surroundings on this platform. Yeah, Nick has talked about Idaho, and Myron, about Wyoming mostly. However, you are the only one that has taken the time to highlight Utah's crazy and beautiful landscapes. Thank you for going down to Santa Clara to the extinct volcanoes, my siblings and I used to play there as kids when on trips to see the grandparents and other family that lived down there. I have always wondered about them, and it still remains a magical place I hold dear with fond memories. Also, I never knew we had a diatreme here in Utah! Thanks to you my knowledge has expanded exponentially. So, that being said, when are you going to Milford to visit the cinder cones out there? I think they are a part of the ancient Wah Wah Springs super volcanic caldera. It would be cool to show peeps that one. Our Black Rock desert is awesome as well. We have old volcanoes on the central Wasatch Range called the Keetley Volcanics (active about 30-40 mya) down by Jordanelle Reservoir. There is a really cool volcanic neck (Indian Hollow Plug) there with a radial dyke swarm. It would be a great spring or summer trip. Hint, hint. 🌋🏔😉

[@generalputnam2990]

You're the one to call when I next have to go to USU in Logan, I guess 😉.

[@shawnwillsey]

I’ve made lots of videos in Utah and will make many more. There are two Utah playlists on my channel. Graduated from Layton High and Weber State. We also own property in SW Utah with plans to build and retire there. In short, expect many more UT videos.

[@sterlingeventide8859]

@@shawnwillsey Oh wow! I had no idea you lived here once before. I live in North Ogden myself but was born and raised in Salt Lake. Weber state is a great school. I think it's great that you have property down south, that indeed makes it even more fun and yes, a great place to retire. I have always loved our deserts and mountains. So many eco systems in one place. I will have to check out more of your Utah vids! Like I have said, you are the only geologist that I know of that has so many vids about Utah on KZbin and you are the only one who has addressed the Santa Clara cinder cones. I look forward to seeing more Utah content from you!

[@ksea9146]

Thank you! I particularly enjoyed the "different from your run of the mill volcanoes" description!

[@marionnadeau8457]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for your support of geology education videos.

[@michaelcapeless3268]

Very interesting presentation, Shawn. I've seen this formation many times, both from the river and from the road between Bluff and Mexican Hat... very prominent feature. Thanks for clarifying for me what's going on there.

[@herbieschwartz9246]

Can you imagine the sound of a hypersonic magma & ejecta eruption.

[@TheStormpilgrim]

Had some barbecue fish in Chengdu once. I have a bit of an idea.

[@perhearkko4255]

No. It will hit you before you hear it

[@briane173]

Having seen a supersonic eruption from a stratovolcano in Indonesia and the shock wave it created from the sheer speed at which tephra shot out of the top, my guess is you'd never hear a diatreme explosion because you'd likely be dead before the sound waves caught up.

[@sterlingeventide8859]

All I can say is it would be an ear drum crushing cacophony of doom. Hehe

[@DrewNorthup]

The supersonic fart from Hell

[@Joey4rox]

I first visited Mule Ear on a Kimberlite Conference field trip in 1977.

[@valoriel4464]

Thx Prof. ✌🏻 Another fascinating vid.

[@kymkauffman5000]

Thank you! I have heard of the diatreme but have never seen one in person, so to speak.

[@jackprier7727]

Thanks-Very unusual and interesting. Explains the very odd placement of various types of rocks-

[@pookiedust2517]

Thankyou shawn i love learning new things on your channe, fab 👍👍

[@TheStormpilgrim]

I thought that diatremes were particular kinds of magma eruptions directly from the mantle, but on reading further, they can occur where any magma intrusion encounters groundwater at depth and the pressure of the rock is insufficient to contain the gas pressure. Now, I wonder why diamonds and other mantle products tend to be associated with diatremes if this process isn't as uncommon as I thought. I'd imagine these come without much warning, apart from some small earthquakes at depth related to the intrusion of magma, and then the ground that was beneath your feet is suddenly passing you on the way to the stratosphere. Diatremes--literal volcanic bombs.

[@Dragrath1]

Yeah its complicated but from what I've read it is a matter of what rocks are excavated so it has to be a diatreme that originates deep enough to excavate diamonds in an area where there are diamonds to excavate. That is to say its a specific kind of diatreme which originates from extreme depths. There is a lot which is contentious or unresolved about how these more extreme ones work but I think the general model is still the one where kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipe eruptions are thought to derive their bulk volatile material as a result of deep carbonatite magmas/carbonate rocks cross reacting with silicates to revert the carbonates back into carbon dioxide and basic/alkaline rich mafic silicates and other volatiles. The reason diamonds need these extreme diatremes is thought to be due to diamonds only being metastable so in order for them not to revert to graphite it needs to be an extremely fast excavation. Water probably plays a role too for some of these more extreme ones since if you compare the locations for the more geologically recent of these episodes with seismic tomography images they all seem to originate from where there is or rather was a deep subducting slab. In this picture these might be the consequence of hydrous carbon dioxide rich sediment enriched material having been squeezed/forced out of the subducted slab due to pressure driven recrystallization at or around the Mantle Transition Zone. It may involve portions of a slab which had once possessed thick carbonate reef platforms which have resulted in remaining material getting over saturated in volatile elements in a scaled down analog to a hydrous mantle plume. All a diatreme itself needs to form it seems is extremely volatile rich material. On that note I wonder if a Pegmatite dike escaping from a pressurized crystalizing magma body could, given the right circumstances, trigger a diatreme eruption?

[@markhanish4463]

Diatremes are really descriptive term for the form it takes versus the type of volcanic rock it contains. The most well known diatremes are from the diamond-bearing kimberlite “pipes” in South Africa. The rock type, kimberlite, originates from extremely great depths (from the mantle) coming from greater depths than most if not all other volcanic rock types. Truly fascinating and unusual.

[@headlessspaceman5681]

Wow wow wow. "A little subtle to the naked eye": I'll admit I've been hiking there in the Comb Wash/Comb Ridge San Juan River area and didn't notice this volcanic feature! On your 3D map zoom-in I knew right where that is though. Comb Ridge is hard to miss.

[@Glen.1966..]

Thank you Shawn! For another educational video , keep up the great work, appreciate youre time in making this happen. 👍👍👍

[@craighoover1495]

Thank you, that was spectacular.

[@runninonempty820]

I had no idea that certain types of volcanoes could spew out diamonds! So cool!

[@RWBHere]

Now, that's a type of volcano whose is new to me. Thanks for the education, Shawn. You're a star!

[@kevindorland738]

Thank you Professor.

[@InSurrealtime]

Does it slow down when it reaches the surface, or is there extra high ejecta?

[@skyepilotte11]

Beutiful country and geologic history. Thx Shawn

[@HH.......]

Thank you Shawn 😊 fascinating lesson ❤😊

[@charlesward8196]

What is the youngest diatreme that has been described? There have been some pretty catastrophic processes, like the flood basalts, Katmai-type caldera forming mafic eruptions, and kimberlite pipe explosions, all great events to be far away from.

[@rogercotman1314]

Thanks Shawn for your continued geology educational videos. 520 Like

[@user-wk1mw9nj3i76]

Wow. Hypersonic magma!?! WERE THE MOVING ROCKS AND MAGMA FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND? WOULD THERE HAVE BEEN A SONIC BOOM INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE VOLCANO.? Your articulate explanation and impressive setting made for a great video. Really appreciate your work creating videos; they’re a highlight of my day!

[@Mark_in_Boulder]

Wow, we're getting spoiled. A new video almost every day. Hope you have more saved up from your sabbatical last year.

[@shawnwillsey]

There are many in the queue plus I’m resurrecting some older, less viewed ones and adding some editing.

[@markhanish4463]

Interesting that there isn’t a lot of evidence of the original volcanic rock matrix here. If Mule Ear is related to local minette dikes, the associated volcanic rock should be porphyritic alkaline igneous rock which is mainly dominated by biotite and potassic feldspar. If this was emplaced at high (possibly supersonic) speeds as some propose for kimberlites, they may have also been emplaced as unusually cold “magmas”, as they are extremely gas rich, with the expansion of the gas greatly cooling the “magma” as it is injected up through the neck of the diatreme. These are so unusual, I’m pretty sure that the emplacement of one has never been witnessed.

[@Laserblade]

What would be the distinguishing difference between this formation and a Kimberlite pipe Professor? Depth?

[@mirage4014]

hello everyone

[@davidk7324]

Fascinating. Seems like Diatremes should be more common. I guess the angles of repose of the underlying rock layers are relatively unique to this area (perhaps a few others?) and key to this phenomena occurring. Thanks Shawn.

[@generalputnam2990]

Much folded & eroded areas.

[@georginastoliker3358]

Amazing stuff

[@3xHermes]

great location and story!

[@herbf2700]

Supersonic magma moving to the surface reminds me of a theoretical eruption type called a "Verne Shot" that I read about once. (like Jewels Verne) The theory was that if you had a big big magma chamber empty out, but below it was some other type of structure that I cant remember, it'd be like popping a zit. The math made the scientists re-do their work over and over because the speed was so crazy (like mach 4 or something) and the column of lava would be a mile wide. It'd spew out in an arc and land 50 miles away and release so much gas it'd cause a mass extinction. I cant find any research on this idea anymore. Its like it was forgotten, but I remember theyd found some possible evidence of such events long long ago.

[@zlm001]

Thanks

[@garrettmillsap]

So is this kind of like a kimberlite pipe?

[@markhanish4463]

Seems to have similar form as a kimberlite pipe but seemingly different composition.

[@raybenner4959]

I know there is a non diamond bearing kimberlite pipe in northeastern Arizona not to far from that location. Kinda interesting there being another similar type of eruption in that area.

[@cacogenicist]

Could be wrong, but I'm going to guess that kimberlite pipe is much older.

[@raybenner4959]

Actually they are both part of the Navajo volcanic field. Their eruptions are only a few million years apart.

[@katiehettinger7857]

Professor Willsey, are there any diatremes active today? 🤔

[@cacogenicist]

These are generally monogenetic volcanoes, I think. You won't get additional eruptions from the same pipe. It's a one-time thing.

[@loisrossi841]

I so agree with Andrew.

[@johnfaulders9880]

There’s a couple of diatremes in Virginia called Trimble Knob and Mole Hill!

[@Anne5440_]

So these are catastrophic events? Meaning they occur suddenly and fast and not over a period of time. So much of geology seems to march slowly along occurring over great periods of time. Yet in my study of geology this winter I've run into more catastrophic events, ie, volcanic eruptions (Iceland, Washington), diatremes (these also sp), and ice age floods (Washington, Idaho, jaukilope, sp) among other events. I'm becoming more aware that geologic time can be relatively different in experience. Thank you for expanding my horizons in not only place but also temporally.

[@briane173]

This is one of the things that have captured my fascination with geology, is that the timelines we're working with are so vast you can't get your head around not only how long all of this geomorphology has taken to get where it is today, but also how short a time humankind has existed relative to even our most recent catastrophic geologic events. I mean, even the advance and retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the last glaciation, in geologic terms, was like a split second ago, when it happened 10x as long ago as the time of Christ. Just boggles my mind.

[@blex5579]

science mag: Tectonic plate under Tibet may be splitting in two... Now, a new analysis of earthquake waves traveling beneath Tibet and telltale gases rising to the surface points to yet another possibility, one that in effect splits the difference between the two scenarios. Part of the Indian Plate appears to be “delaminating” as it slides under the Eurasian Plate, with the dense bottom part peeling away from the top. The study also finds evidence for a vertical fracture, or tear, at the boundary between the peeled-apart section of the slab and its intact neighbor.

[@garyb6219]

I was just looking at a map of the Hopi Buttes. Many of them appear to have a flat top and many of those show an elevation of about 6400 feet. An inland sea existing long enough to erode the tops away?

[@robertbrigham1620]

What's the age of this diatreme (Tertiary/Pleistocene)?

[@markhanish4463]

Reportedly around 30 million years

[@Steviepinhead]

That's been my only visit, unfortunately. I live in Nick Zentner country in the Pacific NW. Sorry to hear about the vandalism...

[@bear6562]

Any chance for those old volcanoes to erupt?

[@shawnwillsey]

Nope.

[@danoberste8146]

Hypersonic? As in the speed of sound in air? or the speed of sound in rock?!? 😳

[@briane173]

As in faster than 3,000 mph (Mach V).

[@bomaite1]

Can you find diamonds there?

[@markhanish4463]

I’ve seen no reports of diamonds at this location

[@katesommerville7217]

I’d never thought of a Supersonic Volcanic Eruption, I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to be too close!

[@caseyschumacher2567]

I’m guessing this was discovered in the uranium boom? How old is the pipe?

[@CAMacKenzie]

Diatreme from Greek, dia- "through" trema "hole"

[@stephanieparker1250]

While using Google earth to look up some of these buttes, I ran across “Nipple Butte” in Arizona. The name is appropriate 😅

[@cacogenicist]

No ultramafic stuff came out of this one?

[@jeanettecameron7530]

Diamonds. Oooo.

[@Shelah-ne7ph]

Got a whole lot of shaking going on today.Earthquake uptick I noticed.That will move some rock..🤔🌹🇮🇱

[@generalputnam2990]

Welp, one of life's Great Mysteries explained. Worked projects out there a lot, driven through the area many times & there is no better place for just R&R. Extraordinarily complex & interesting region. Prehistoric peoples were well aware of the topographic & geologic/ecol/bio gifts. Hit Edge of the Cedars Museum & ruins, fellas. Thank me later 😉

[@Steviepinhead]

I'm gonna second the recommendation for the Edge of the Cedars museum. We visited after a volunteer stint to assist the forest archaeologist in the Bear's Ears NM.

[@generalputnam2990]

@@Steviepinhead Fabulous area. Did you see the Chacoan Outlier & road segment? Mule Canyon used to be my favorite campsite from which to work/base until the Cty Commission promoted it & was overrun & vandalized

[@lauram9478]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@NATHANIELYazzie-j3w]

Yep so if you wanna visit the place u have to get premission from navajo nation. Looks to me well be having pochers on the land. That was purposly far for the people to reach. But ive been investigating these diatremes an theres is more than two near thjs mule ear"s an i even found a very interesting oar at alcapitan volcano that shouldnt be there. Many more work of geology needs to be investigated. I belive there are diamonds on the navajo land. An no one was intrested in ivestigating this. Not only was the government hiding this wealth. They robbed us of all our coal gold an diamonds mined out of blackmesa near kayenta arizona. Well bk to diatremes. All i gotta say is all the minerals are there. I just need your help. Anyone. Thats not greedy thats professional. Show us how to go about this. Honestly my fam own the rights to tha property. Violaters an tresspassers well b shot. It is private land. But shawn thanks for the info hallar at me i meed ur help

[@mariiris1403]

It's all very interesting, but you don't use that camera well. Too much unnecessary movement. Please attach it to a tripod or similar devise. I understand that you are a busy man, but it makes me turn your video off.

[@shawnwillsey]

Older video that I relaunched. Hoping the newer ones are more stable. Thanks for your critique.

[@mariiris1403]

Oh, I shall try and watch a newer one, then. Thanks for explaining that it was a relaunched one. @@shawnwillsey

[@ziggstah5307]

ANy eclogite or peridotite clasts ?

[@markhanish4463]

I wondered that as well.

[@lindashamburger1005]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for your support of geology education.

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!